


Radio in the Universe

by JudeWinchester



Category: Free!
Genre: Boys Being Cute, M/M, Not an established relationship but they're totally into each other!, Romance, Stars and Space and Junk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-09 00:11:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1139134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JudeWinchester/pseuds/JudeWinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Rei looked up at the stars, it was home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Radio in the Universe

**Author's Note:**

> I just really wanted to write about Rei totally in love with the stars and have Haru absolutely awed by him! Please enjoy! (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) ♫･*:.｡. .｡.:*･

It's already one in the morning and Rei still can't sleep.

 

His back flat on the padding floor, Rei twitched around uncomfortably, feeling a few rocks prodding underneath from the tent. Which you wouldn't think would be such a big problem while camping at the beach but mother nature had her surprises - Ooh how he learned that lesson fast in their last training camp.

 

It had been Nagisa's idea to go on another training camp at the beach, with Rin added to the party it really turn into a much more leisure of a trip compared to their previous one, only getting some actual training done when Gou would rightfully whip them back into shape. She really was a terrific manager, if she were interested in swimming, Gou would definitely be an amazing captain. Rei had mistakenly told her that once, earning him a little too much gratitude from Gou, over the top threats from Rin, constant teasing from Nagisa and a very vicious ear yank from Haru.

 

Rei never did understand what earned him the last one, when he had asked Makoto - who was the only one to seem to recognize Rei's comment as a compliment - he just smiled and told him Haru could get a little moody sometimes. It took about a week until Haru talked to him again and four more days after that for the glares to stop.

 

He let out a small sigh through his nose, Haru was definitely one of the more interesting members in the club, abiet a rather quiet one. Which was rather fortunate - or unfortunate, depending on Haru's mood - because that's who he was paired with for the night and who better to share a tent with than someone who hardly moved in their sleep. 

 

The perfect sleeping buddy, unless you were the one who couldn't sleep. Normally, movement wouldn't transfer over to the other party so easily in a large tent but when you were just a few inches shy of being sandwhiched between Haru and Rin - he insisted that butterfly swimmers _must_ stick together but Rei was more than sure  Rin just wanted to give him a hard time about swimming out in the ocean in the middle of the night, which he did - there was really no extra room to adjust in a comfortable enough position to sleep.

 

Earlier in the night when he did try to re-adjust his position, Rei had received a sharp kick to the shin along with a tired 'stop moving' from Rin. So there he laid, flat on his back. Feeling cramp, stuffy and annoyed. 

 

Sometimes Rei could ignore the elements around him and be in a cat nap in no time, but tonight he was restless. Maybe it was the salty air, or the uneven bedding. Maybe it was the small sleeping space or that no matter how many times Rei had pushed Rin's dead-weight arm on his face away, it would come back without fail fifteen minutes later. He had counted.

 

Or maybe instead of a beautiful starry night over his head - that could only be taken advantage of on these types of trips, far away from the town lights - he was staring at the dark blue synthetic material of a tent, a pathetic view compared to his stars. 

 

With a decided nod Rei waited.

 

Thook! Thwap!

 

There was his signal. Removing Rin's arm from his face - again - Rei slowly sat up and checked the time on his wrist watch. 

 

1:15 am.

 

No one would notice if he was away for only an hour. Catch a glimpse of the night sky, let it lull him enough to lazily walk back and finally get some rest. Sure it would cut into his sleeping time but at least this way it would relieve some of his irritation, and honestly he wasn't going to get any sleep just lying on the floor with a face full of Rin's arm anytime soon. Rei glanced over to Haru, he could only see his back but the gentle rise and fall of his quiet breathing gave Rei enough of a confirmation that both men were deep in their sleep.

 

Trying to quietly unzip the flap to a tent in the dead of the night had easily been one of the most stressful things Rei had done. As soon as he got it open Rei set his shoes and a hoodie outside, not wanting the ruffle of clothing to possibly wake up Haru and Rin. After another session of 'guess how loud a zipper can be', Rei hastily grabbed his shoes and hoodie, still not opting to put on either one - half reason because the shoes would make too much noise in the sand compared to his bare feet and the other half of the reason being that he needed to shake the sand out of his hoodie before he could put it on, and he wasn't about to flap away with everyone in ear shot.

 

Rei made his way to some hilly areas that weren't too far off, grateful for his hoodie when the chill air bit at his exposed skin half way up the walk. The hills were a little above the shore level and had nice patches of green grass, the weather not hot enough yet to kill off the vegetation on the hills yet. A great spot for star-gazing, making his way to the top, Rei looked to the horizon. 

 

Taking a deep breath of air, the sea breeze not bothering him as much as compared to their camping spot, so close to the shore. After an eyeful of the sea, Rei took a spot on the greenest patch of grass and took off his shoes before settling himself on the ground.

 

The cool floor felt marvelous and when Rei looked up at the vast starry sky, it beckoned him into a calm state of mind. Weightless and utterly relax, the stars were always an escape for Rei, they were almost his home.

 

'Beautiful.' The allure of the stars occupied enough of Rei's attention that he didn't notice the rushed steps coming up the hill rapidly heading his way.

 

"Rei!" Haru's called out, his voice panicked and out of breath. Rei leaned his head back, an upside down image ofHaru in his sight. He had his hands planted on his knees when he came at a stop behind Rei, catching his breath and his face contorted in one part anger and ninety nine parts scared.

 

"What do you think you're doing?!" Haru questioned angrily, his breathing becoming steady again. His tone made Rei sit up quickly, had he woken him? He looked pretty angry, Haru was not the type of person who liked to bedisturbed and if Rei had accidentally woken him. 'Oh boy.'

 

"I... um... I couldn't get to sleep. I thought some fresh air might help." It wasn't a total lie, he really couldn't get a wink of shut-eye though if it had just been a need of air, he didn't need to go to the top of a hill to do it. 

 

"You idiot!" Rei flinched, Haru's wrath could be as strong as the sea, something that should definitely be reckoned with and definitely not messed with.

 

"I thought you went out into the ocean again!" Rei's expression faltered, if it hadn't been for Haru's troubled look, Rei would have shot him a deadpanned look. He was greateful for the concerns and understood the scoldings but he wasn't that stupid enough to go back into the ocean in the middle of the night all alone.

 

"Haruka-sempai, I'm not so dim-witted that I wouldn't learn my lesson from my first experience and venture out so stupidly on my own again." He reassured him, mostly offended. Rei sighed as Haru brought his knees down to the ground, sitting up next to him. "I'm sorry, Haruka-sempai, I didn't want to disturb you from your slumber."

 

"I rather be woken up." Haru argued, Rei shot him a questioning look, it sounded like there was more to Haru's statement that he didn't say out loud. He looked away, not giving Rei the benefit of reading him. Rei was good at that, he had an insight of Haru that nobody else did, Haru was grateful that Rei wasn't the type of guy to exploit that.

 

"Let's go back." Haru said tugging at the taller boy's sleeve.

 

"Oh. Um." Rei flustered slightly. "Not yet?" He laid back down on the grass, fixing his eyes back up at the sky. "It's really beautiful tonight, don't you think?" Haru looked up. 

 

Rei was right, it really was a sight to behold, though if Haru had to be completely honest the night sky always crossed Haru with the feeling of intimidation. More than likely because it just wasn't Haru's element. "Would you like to star gaze with me?" Haru looked down, Rei hadn't even looked at him when he asked; too absorbed in his own world.

 

He had taken off his glasses, those amethyst eyes were serene and they almost sparkled with the reflection of the stars on them. His lips tugged in a small smile, everything about it was so relaxed and at peace, he was practically glowing. How could Haru say no to that? 

 

Wordlessly Haru laid himself down on the floor, using Rei's torso as a pillow. He expected a fuss from Rei but received nothing, did the night sky really put him that much at ease?

 

"This relaxes you?" 

 

"Mmm-hmm. As much as the water relaxes you, Haruka-sempai." Rei answered, naming off constellations in his head.

 

"Why?" Haru questioned.

 

"I don't know. It just does." Rei's reply had been so tranquil it sent a shiver down Haru's spine. He had a sense that this was a side of Rei that no one has seen. "When I was younger my mother would get angry with me because I would sneak on top of the roof to look at the stars. It wasn't as pleasant as it had been in the country side but it still put me at ease." Rei chuckled a bit, recalling the memories of his younger years. "I didn't get caught for the longest time until I accidentally fell asleep on the roof. She was furious." 

 

"That sounds rebellious for you." Haru said and Rei shrugged. "Is it because you think the stars are beautiful, is that why you like them?" Haru questioned again.

 

"They're so much more than that, Haru." That surprised him, Rei must have really been gone if he didn't even notice that he used 'Haru' in substitute of his usual name for him.

 

"They're vast and mysterious and terrifying. And not just the stars but the entirety of space. There's so many possibilities and things we don't understand about it. Undiscovered technology, unknown life and impossible planets!  It has never-ending, amazing. Horrible. Beautiful things. The complexity of the universe is so massive that I can't even fathom where to begin to study my curiosities of it but that's what makes it so appealing! It's more than just the allure of beautiful lights in the sky, Haru! It's like an ocean of ridiculous mysteries and riddles, everything about it is so maginificent and chaotically... beautiful."  

 

Haru turned breathless, had Rei always been capable of being this passionate and raw? 

 

"It might sound strange to say but when I think about these things it doesn't make me feel so alone. There's so much to see and if I were given the opportunity to experience just a little bit of it, I'd take it in a heart beat." Rei yawned, the night working its magic and slowly lulling Rei asleep, he still had a smile on his face.

 

"Water is your place of comfort, Haru. The sky is mines." 

 

Haru's heart thumped loudly in chest, the intensity of Rei's words thundering and shaking the very core of Haru. Rei was always about theories and calculations, he never would have guessed that Rei had such thoughts. Haru placed a hand over his own chest, his heart still hammering away. 

 

"You're surprisingly romantic, Rei." Haru was finally able to say which earned another chuckled from Rei.

 

"If my untamed crazy talk of a never-ceasing interest in the universe is romantic than yeah, I guess I am." Rei smiled then yawned again and stretched out his arms and legs, plopping them down ungraciously back to the ground. "Don't tell anyone I told you this, okay?" He said, his voice thick with sleep. "I'd never hear the end of it..." After an extended moment of silence Haru turned his head to look at Rei, he had gone fast asleep. Haru sat up and stared at his sleeping face.

 

A slight somber feeling rested in Haru, if Rei was a man of the skies and beyond, that means he was in a completely different world than Haru's. There was no doubt in his mind that with Rei's passion and educated mind would take him far. This man would never be tied down to one place and that was a cruel reality that Haru would have to accept one day but until that day came Haru would enjoy Rei's company. 

 

On a opptimistic point of view, Haru could never see Rei as the vagabond type, he would eventually come back from whatever adventure he'd set himself out on. In that comforting thought, Haru smiled, what a privilege to know someone like Rei. 

 

"Don't forget to come back home when you're traveling the stars."

 

Haru was patient, he would wait.


End file.
